Burma (Myanmar) Housing

Written by: La Phan

Overview

In Myanmar half of the population lives in the rural areas and the rest in the urban areas. Housing problems faced by urbanites are unaffordable price and shortage of housing supply due to poor management of housing developments. In the rural areas, housing problems take place in very different forms. Housing problems in rural areas are very much concerned with political instabilities as displacement occurs due to ongoing civil wars. Apart from this, many villages have been moved out by land confiscations.

Housing problems in urban areas

Housing prices in urban areas of Myanmar is too high for average wage earners to be affordable. There are two reasons for high prices. Firstly, the housing developers avoid implementing cheap housing project which gives no chance for average income earners other than pay the high price. Secondly, the income of manual employees which is estimated as 1300 USD per year is lower than cheapest housing price.

Table 1: The GDP per capita, 1300 USD, is much lower that the lowest housing price (2011).


Calculated from: http://www.myanmar-housing.com/

Influx of foreign entrepreneurs is also one of major causes that heightens the high price and makes it unaffordable for average income earners. While the income rate still remains unchanged, housing price has been already raised up by rhetoric business interests of foreign investors. Thus, real estates and houses are sold at very high price in the hope of economic boom. Due to these reasons, the housing price has been doubling in recent years.

Housing problems in rural areas

Poor housing in rural areas embraces many problems. Although the cost and price are not big problems for countryside dweller, the standard of houses in rural areas is much too behind healthy environment. Rural houses are so poorly built that they lack sanitation relevancies and hygienic conditions. They are not only lack of necessary facilities, water supply and electricity, but also safety.

The roots of housing problems in rural areas
The reason behind poor housing in rural areas is numerous. Among them political instability is one of major causes for poor settlement. This happens mostly in Kachin, Shan and Karen states, where civil wars are more common. People become homeless or refugees and have to live in very poor conditions, usually temporary huts. Due to the threat of civil wars, people have to nomad recurrently therefore they do not have a chance to settle down in a stable way. This results in poor living conditions. At the end of 2011, there have been about additional 50,000 displaced people in Kachin state alone. Another reason for poor housing in rural areas is land confiscations. Hundreds of villages have been moved out in order to build dam projects and to implement other businesses. For example, implementation of Irrawaddy dam project has caused displacement of about 60 villages located near the project site. Villagers were paid little or no compensation for resettlements. This too resulted in poor living conditions for rural residents.

Defects in Property Rights and Land Laws
Concerning with urban residence, the government not allocating the land in a proper plan since shortage of housing is worsening. The land development is not regulated in accord with the public needs as it favors only to the private land developers and economic interests. Therefore the government should initiate a sustainable land use and set a clear policy guideline in order to meet citizens’ need. For the rural housing problems, the government should better enforce the law the safeguard the property rights of the citizens so as to prevent arbitrary land confiscations. To end the civil wars and build political stability is also crucial to have proper living conditions in the rural areas.